Daox's energy use tracking - Page 7

Daox · 01-24-12, 07:41 AM

Well the January bill is in and wow its been warm! Only 1146 HDD vs 1370 last year and 1500+ the two previous years. Electric use is up quite a bit (16 kWh/day vs 9.4) due to the hot water heater still, but gas use is way down from previous years (3 therms/day vs 4.1). That means that overall energy usage is quite a bit down 104 kWh/day vs 129 kWh/day last year.

I still can't wait to get the solar hot water installed. That'll crush the electric hot water heater's power consumption and eat a decent chunk of the heating as well.

Daox · 09-20-12, 10:38 AM

Its been quite a while, so its time for an update. No real major changes have taken place, although for some reason our electric usage has continued to decline during summer which is great. This past month I was able to lower electricity consumption to an all time low since installing the electric on demand water heater. Last September I had used 502 kWh and its down to 336 this month.

I'm still looking forward to that solar hot water setup. That should lower that electric bill down quite a bit. I'm estimating a ~100 kWh drop in usage. This would put me back in line with how much electricity I was using in summer with my old gas water heater.

Daox · 12-20-12, 07:48 AM

This is the first full month after getting the office wall insulated. It looks like it has made a noticable difference. They key compairison is the "gas / hdd" column. Similar months with similar HDDs are highlighted below.

March 2011 - 994 HDD - 90 therms - .091 therms / HDD (had gas hot water heater at this time)
December 2011 - 1054 HDD - 85 therms - .081 therms / HDD (installed on demand electric water heater)
December 2012 - 971 HDD - 73 therms - .075 therms / HDD

So the change, while not huge, is probably proportional to the amount of wall area actually insulated. Good to see there is a positive and measurable effect though.

Daox · 12-20-12, 08:51 AM

Woo, just remembered this brings us to the end of the 2012 billing cycle. I thought I'd post up my stats for the entire time I've owned the house. Below are the totals for each year I've been in the house. Thankfully there has been a nice steady progression in the right direction of less energy usage.

Of interest I think are:
- Max monthly cost: $328.52 from my first year in the house in winter
- Average monthly cost of $126.19
- This year has been substancially warmer than previous years

Daox · 11-11-13, 11:27 AM

Its been a while since I updated this. Almost a year...

Anyway, here are the usage numbers for this part of 2013. Its been a pretty good year and I've been able to reduce my electricity consumption a very large amount. I think it helped that this year the summer was mild and I wasn't running fans like crazy. I also didn't even bother putting in the window A/C unit that normally goes in my bedroom window.

Daox · 12-20-13, 09:21 AM

I got my last energy bill for the year. Money wise, things went very well. Energy wise, my usage was up, mostly due to a much colder year (8100 vs 6600 HDDs). However, electric use was down a fair amount.

2013 Use stats:
8100 HDD
651 CDD
3408 kWh (9.2 kWh/day)
646 therms of NG (1.74 therms/day)
60.3 kWh/day average (includes gas use)

Daox · 02-24-14, 01:27 PM

It has been COLD so far this year. Colder by quite a bit than any other year. In January we averaged 50.1 HDD per day, and in February we averaged 54.9! The previous coldest month (since 2008) averaged 45.9. Still, despite this, my conservation efforts have triumphed, yay!

My gas use per HDD has actually gone down a little bit from January to February with the reprogramming of my thermostat to drop down to 50F at night and when I am not home. It is 70F when I am at home, and it bumps up to 60F when I get up in the morning. So, this seems to be working quite well.

There was such a drastic difference in temperature, I started logging more info in my spreadsheet. I actually now have graphs charting the heating and cooling degree days (top chart), and the heating and cooling degree days per day (bottom chart). This really gives a GREAT visualization of how much energy is required to heat versus cool in my environment.

philb · 02-26-14, 08:55 PM

Doax,
How do you get your heating and cooling degree days? The numbers you are posting do not look like they came from a government chart. Are you calculating them?

Daox · 02-27-14, 07:37 AM

The heating and cooling degree days are listed on my monthly utility bill.

If you're looking to get them for any general area there is a great site to look them up:

Heating & Cooling Degree Days - Free Worldwide Data Calculation

Daox · 04-25-14, 12:33 PM

Another month, another bill. Thankfully this one is significantly smaller than last!

There is also a good comparison again with the new wifi thermostat. November and April have very close to the same heating degree days (24.5 / day vs 25.5). Despite slightly higher HDD, April had 11% lower gas usage than November! The only real change to the house during the time was the thermostat. In case you haven't noticed, I love the thermostat.

01-24-12, 07:41 AM	#61
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Well the January bill is in and wow its been warm! Only 1146 HDD vs 1370 last year and 1500+ the two previous years. Electric use is up quite a bit (16 kWh/day vs 9.4) due to the hot water heater still, but gas use is way down from previous years (3 therms/day vs 4.1). That means that overall energy usage is quite a bit down 104 kWh/day vs 129 kWh/day last year. I still can't wait to get the solar hot water installed. That'll crush the electric hot water heater's power consumption and eat a decent chunk of the heating as well. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

09-20-12, 10:38 AM	#62
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Its been quite a while, so its time for an update. No real major changes have taken place, although for some reason our electric usage has continued to decline during summer which is great. This past month I was able to lower electricity consumption to an all time low since installing the electric on demand water heater. Last September I had used 502 kWh and its down to 336 this month. I'm still looking forward to that solar hot water setup. That should lower that electric bill down quite a bit. I'm estimating a ~100 kWh drop in usage. This would put me back in line with how much electricity I was using in summer with my old gas water heater. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-20-12, 07:48 AM	#63
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	This is the first full month after getting the office wall insulated. It looks like it has made a noticable difference. They key compairison is the "gas / hdd" column. Similar months with similar HDDs are highlighted below. March 2011 - 994 HDD - 90 therms - .091 therms / HDD (had gas hot water heater at this time) December 2011 - 1054 HDD - 85 therms - .081 therms / HDD (installed on demand electric water heater) December 2012 - 971 HDD - 73 therms - .075 therms / HDD So the change, while not huge, is probably proportional to the amount of wall area actually insulated. Good to see there is a positive and measurable effect though. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-20-12, 08:51 AM	#64
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Woo, just remembered this brings us to the end of the 2012 billing cycle. I thought I'd post up my stats for the entire time I've owned the house. Below are the totals for each year I've been in the house. Thankfully there has been a nice steady progression in the right direction of less energy usage. Of interest I think are: - Max monthly cost: $328.52 from my first year in the house in winter - Average monthly cost of $126.19 - This year has been substancially warmer than previous years Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

11-11-13, 11:27 AM	#65
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Its been a while since I updated this. Almost a year... Anyway, here are the usage numbers for this part of 2013. Its been a pretty good year and I've been able to reduce my electricity consumption a very large amount. I think it helped that this year the summer was mild and I wasn't running fans like crazy. I also didn't even bother putting in the window A/C unit that normally goes in my bedroom window. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-20-13, 09:21 AM	#66
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I got my last energy bill for the year. Money wise, things went very well. Energy wise, my usage was up, mostly due to a much colder year (8100 vs 6600 HDDs). However, electric use was down a fair amount. 2013 Use stats: 8100 HDD 651 CDD 3408 kWh (9.2 kWh/day) 646 therms of NG (1.74 therms/day) 60.3 kWh/day average (includes gas use) Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-24-14, 01:27 PM	#67
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	It has been COLD so far this year. Colder by quite a bit than any other year. In January we averaged 50.1 HDD per day, and in February we averaged 54.9! The previous coldest month (since 2008) averaged 45.9. Still, despite this, my conservation efforts have triumphed, yay! My gas use per HDD has actually gone down a little bit from January to February with the reprogramming of my thermostat to drop down to 50F at night and when I am not home. It is 70F when I am at home, and it bumps up to 60F when I get up in the morning. So, this seems to be working quite well. There was such a drastic difference in temperature, I started logging more info in my spreadsheet. I actually now have graphs charting the heating and cooling degree days (top chart), and the heating and cooling degree days per day (bottom chart). This really gives a GREAT visualization of how much energy is required to heat versus cool in my environment. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Daox; 02-24-14 at 01:31 PM..

02-26-14, 08:55 PM	#68
philb Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 155 Thanks: 58 Thanked 17 Times in 14 Posts	Doax, How do you get your heating and cooling degree days? The numbers you are posting do not look like they came from a government chart. Are you calculating them?

02-27-14, 07:37 AM	#69
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	The heating and cooling degree days are listed on my monthly utility bill. If you're looking to get them for any general area there is a great site to look them up: Heating & Cooling Degree Days - Free Worldwide Data Calculation __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

04-25-14, 12:33 PM	#70
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Another month, another bill. Thankfully this one is significantly smaller than last! There is also a good comparison again with the new wifi thermostat. November and April have very close to the same heating degree days (24.5 / day vs 25.5). Despite slightly higher HDD, April had 11% lower gas usage than November! The only real change to the house during the time was the thermostat. In case you haven't noticed, I love the thermostat. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.